Here I Am
by Animation Adventures
Summary: In an alternate universe, humans, animals, and Bakugan shared the same world, New Vestroia. While humans lived in civilization, animals and Bakugan lived out in the wild. Everything was peaceful. Then the impossible happened when six children were taken care of by six Bakugan. As a result, some of New Vestroia's most unlikely friendships came to life.
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: I do not own Bakugan or anything within the franchise.

Prologue

In an alternate dimension, humans and Bakugan lived peacefully on the same planet, New Vestroia. As long as humans didn't bother Bakugan, Bakugan didn't bother humans. Bakugan lived in the wild, humans lived in civilization. Small cities and towns of humans were scattered all over the world. Some humans even resided in Attribute Realms, realms with hidden entrances around the planet where Bakugan with attribute heritage could enter while regular animals and humans could enter on their own. Most Bakugan didn't get involved with humans and the few that did helped their lives along, be it help building structures or defending them from opposing people and Bakugan alike. Though humans wanted to defend themselves against Bakugan, they knew that Bakugan would always be stronger than them. They also knew that Bakugan were a lot like them as well. While humans raised their young in a more controlled environment, Bakugan raised theirs in a more natural one. Humans needed water and food as necessities to survival and some Bakugan needed it as well. When one was in pain, another helped them no matter if they were humans helping Bakugan or Bakugan helping humans. They were more alike than a lot realized. A few things hadn't happened in Vestroia history but something that never happened before finally did… human children raised by Bakugan. Yes there were human children that were raised by wild animals, a few in recorded history, but never had the two intelligent creatures interacted in such a way until six children and Bakugan made history.

A young boy, filled with an energetic fire, found care under a Bakugan that never thought he would be in such a position.

A little girl that was jealous and longing for attention got hers from one of the most understanding Bakugan of her time.

An obedient son broke from doing as his parents ask to learn more about Bakugan and found a friend in a Bakugan which would make him laugh.

An adventurous daughter got into trouble, causing her to forget her past, and was found by a loyal Bakugan that promised to protect her.

A child that lost someone important to him, would be taken under the wing of a Bakugan that would help him become closer to the wind that his someone important encouraged him to love.

A child with a strange fondness for darkness lost all of her family gained a companion in a not-so-merciless Bakugan.

These six children formed bonds with Bakugan that no human ever did before.


	2. Marucho: A New World

Disclaimer: I do not own Bakugan or anything within the franchise.

A New World

A young boy lightly kicked a ball away from him to another boy.

"Pass it over here!" A third child, a girl called out to the boy that had received the ball. Hearing his friend's plea, he turned and kicked the ball over to her.

The three children were playing in front of a really large house. This large house was the biggest and the richest in the town. As they played, they noticed a shadow pass over them. "Look it's a Bakugan!" The first boy exclaimed gleefully. He was right, a bird-like Haos Bakugan flew over their area.

"So cool!" All three children chorused.

A window from the large house opened near them. "Huh?" A voice said as a boy's head appeared in the window. The boy was younger than the three outside. His head was topped with blonde hair and he had red glasses on his face. Looking out the window, he saw the creature in the sky. "Oh…" He breathed in wonder. Watching the Bakugan fly away, the little boy was awestruck. Around this neighborhood, Bakugan sightings were uncommon. Normally, the Bakugan around this town steered away from human land.

Suddenly, the little boy's attention was ripped away from his gaze as he heard a voice. "Marucho, please close the window, we're having lunch." That was the voice of his mother.

"Okay, Mother." Obediently, Marucho closed the window and returned to the table where his mother and father sat. A butler stood by, awaiting orders. Getting back into his seat, Marucho continued to eat his meal.

Marucho's father finished swallowing a piece of meat. "Now Marucho, remember you have your math lesson and your science lesson this afternoon so be sure to study beforehand so you'll be prepared for your quizzes. A little extra studying is always good."

Marucho nodded. "Yes, Father. I'll do just that." He replied. And yet, instead of his lessons being on his mind, his mind wandered to the Bakugan he had seen. Only a few times in his short life had he seen a Bakugan and now he was curious since he was able to read. "Father, Mother, what's a Bakugan?" The boy looked at his parents.

"Bakugan are creatures way bigger than us, Marucho. They live in this world just like we do. Some Bakugan are ten times as big as our house." His mother answered.

"That's really big, Mother."

"Yes Marucho it is."

A little while later after his science lesson and into his math lesson, Marucho still seemed to be intrigued by Bakugan. He had always been a studious little boy but today he was different. In his wonder of Bakugan, he didn't realize that he was doodling until his instructor pointed it out.

The instructor spoke to him. "Marucho, have you finished your division?"

His head shot up. "Hm?" Then he looked down at his paper. "Oh, no I haven't. I'm almost done." Getting back to the sheet in front of him, he began to scribble away at the remaining problems.

Since Marucho's behavior was out of the ordinary for him, the instructor found this odd and went over to check on his work. When he saw Marucho's sheet, he was surprised. "What's that on your paper, Marucho?"

"What?" Marucho asked, surprised at the question.

"This little drawing here. What is it?" The instructor motioned to the drawing on the page.

Giving it a glance, Marucho realized what it was. "It's a Bakugan, sir. At least I think how a Bakugan looks?" Erasing the sketch, he continued his assignment. "Sorry about that, I saw a Bakugan earlier and I think it might have distracted me a little." The boy apologized as he finished.

His instructor nodded. "It's alright, some people space out a little when they're curious about something. Now what do you say we check your work over?" He asked his student. Curtly, Marucho nodded in agreement. While his instructor looked over the problems, Marucho's thoughts went back to his Bakugan doodle that he unconsciously drew. Were Bakugan really that interesting to him?

The answer was clear. They were interesting to him.

Dinner came and went then with the time left in the day to play, Marucho used that time to go to the house's small library. Thankfully, among the books were a few books on Bakugan. More than once he had to ask Kato, his butler to pronounce big words for him to the point where Kato sat by him, waiting for a word to require pronouncing and if Marucho needed a snack or a drink, the child would wait until Kato came back before proceeding further. By the time for bed, Marucho had only gotten through a fourth of a three hundred page book on Bakugan.

"Keep it there, Kato. I don't want to lose the page I'm on until tomorrow." He told Kato as the butler was about to close the book and place it back on the shelf before ushering Marucho to bed. Obeying the order, Kato left it as is and took Marucho to wash up for bed and tuck him in. However, Marucho didn't fall asleep. Instead, he was too curious about Bakugan to get his rest. In his head, he summarized everything he learned about Bakugan from the book. After about an hour or two, Marucho couldn't take it anymore and hopped out of bed. Peeking out his door, he saw no one was outside. As quietly as he could, he scurried back to the library and continued where he left off. At this late hour without Kato or anybody knowing he was there reading, he skipped over the big words so he could come back to them later. Still being a child at such a young age, he gave into sleep a little while later.

At breakfast, Marucho was very awake but drowsiness remained in his system a little.

During breakfast, Marucho's father looked at him. "You mustn't do that, Marucho. It's not good to leave bed in the middle of the night and not return. You need your sleep so you may do your studies."

"I understand, Father. I won't do it again." Marucho eat up his breakfast.

This day felt like it was not ending soon enough. If he couldn't get his lessons done then he couldn't return to reading about Bakugan. One thing certainly made his day quicker though. That thing would be falling asleep during his English lesson before lunch. First he was awake and reading then the next moment, his head was on the table and it rested on a book he was supposed to read to practice sentence structure. When he awoke, it was late into his time for his math lesson. Apparently after he had fallen asleep, his parents canceled his lessons for the remainder of the day. Once he woke up, he eat his dinner meal with his parents then went back to the library to continue reading. In the short time of two days, there was a lot he learned about Bakugan such as the different attributes, Bakugan nature and intelligence, and many other things within the first book he read.

Following that day was a day full of free time for Marucho, he didn't have studies every day and even though he missed his afternoon lessons yesterday, his parents knew they had to keep their promise of him having that day off. When Marucho passed a window by the front yard, he saw all three kids from two days ago outside his house again. They knew what Bakugan looked like so they must know more information he could learn about them.

Approaching his parents who were discussing in the living room, he asked, "Mother, Father, would it be alright if I went outside to talk to the children out in front of our house?"

His parents looked at each other and out to their front yard where they saw the children. "Yes, Marucho, you may. If they say any naughty words, you can't talk to them anymore okay?" His mother replied to him.

"Yes, Mother." Marucho answered before asking Kato to open the door so he could go outside. "Hello there." He said to them as he approached.

One boy looked to the other boy and girl. "There was a kid in that house?" Both shrugged, Marucho's appearance answering for them.

"My name's Marucho and yes I do live in that house. I wish to talk to you all. You've all seen Bakugan before right? The one that flew over the other day was the first one I ever saw. Do you three know more about Bakugan? Have you seen more?"

The girl of the group looked at her friends before looking back to Marucho. "Yeah, we've seen other Bakugan but not many." She answered.

Marucho's eyes grew bigger in curiosity. "Really? That's amazing. You must tell me about what you've seen and what you know."

All three looked at each other again, seemingly having a silent conversation before they reached a decision. "Alright, we'll tell you but you have to play with us while we do." The other boy said.

"Deal." Marucho reached out a hand and shook his hand.

So while they talked, they kicked the ball in a sort of square like they had done a few days ago. They didn't offer much of what Marucho didn't already know about Bakugan but what they gave was enough to add to his knowledge. Eventually, Kato called him in for dinner and Marucho saw them off before returning inside.

A couple days later, Marucho was full of information about Bakugan after reading some of the books in the library. This worried his parents a little. It seemed like all Marucho talked about these days were Bakugan and didn't mention anything about how his studies went. One day when Marucho was in his English lesson, he glanced from his book to a window at the right moment to spot a Bakugan passing through.

His eyes sparkled upon sight. "Wow!" Dropping his book on his work table, he jumped out of his seat and to the window, pushing it open. He heard said Bakugan's voice let out a roar like a lion would but more like a Bakugan roar. "Amazing…"

"Marucho! Close that window at once and return to your seat." His English instructor commanded.

This order went unheard as Marucho continued to look after the Bakugan until it passed through and out of sight.

His instructor sounded off again. "Marucho, your seat."

Quirking at the order, Marucho realized what he was supposed to be doing. "Oh, right, sorry sir." Closing the window, Marucho sat back down and returned to his work.

Later in the evening, Marucho was trying to fall asleep in bed but he couldn't do it with voices reaching his ears. Intent on finding out what was going on, the little boy got out of bed and made his way to his door. Cracking it open a peek, he saw no one in the hall before he fully left his room and approached the foyer where voices seemed to be coming from.

"I'm worried about your son, Mister and Missus Marukura. He seems so taken with those Bakugan creatures. What does he see in them? They're giant creatures that could crush everything in an instant." His science instructor spoke up. Putting his ear to the foyer door, he heard everything.

Inside, Marucho's parents were sitting down with Marucho's instructors.

"Bakugan are like that, it's just natural for them to be large but I do agree with you on the child. I can tell just by looking at him that Bakugan are on his mind even when he's studying. If nothing is done about this soon, he'll become obsessed with them." The math instructor said.

Marucho's parents glanced at the instructor and then to each other. "What do you suggest we do about this?" Marucho's father asked the instructors.

Marucho's English instructor leaned forward seriously. "We have to suppress this before it gets out of hand. If he talks about them, tell him to stop focusing on them, put them out of mind, and focus on his studies. Have him play and don't allow him to read books about Bakugan. His interest will only continue if he continues to read about them." He explained to the parents and fellow instructors. "This goes for all of us. We all have to make sure he doesn't drive himself crazy over them."

At that point, Marucho heard enough and didn't want to hear anymore. Backing away, he quietly ran back to his room and hid under his bed covers. They couldn't stop him from studying Bakugan, could they? He really likes them after all.

After that night, the next day proved him wrong. When he brought up Bakugan, everyone told him to concentrate on his studies. Once the chance to stop studying and get back to reading came, he immediately went to the library only to find the books on Bakugan were removed. Then he spent all evening looking for them despite his parents' constant suggestions for him to play outside or with his toys. His search was fruitless as he couldn't find them anywhere he could get to in the house. They really had stuck to their conversation with each other that other night and tried to make him stop being curious about Bakugan.

Searching for the books that evening exhausted him and he went to bed quickly. Later on in the middle of the night before the break of dawn, Marucho woke up, unable to sleep anymore. Memories of the previous day returned to him as soon as he woke up completely. Those memories were not good for him, then he made a decision. If his parents and instructors weren't going to let him study Bakugan then he wasn't going to stay, he was going to go out and find a place to study Bakugan.

A look to his bedroom window gave him an idea. Opening the window, he climbed out onto the surrounding rooftop. Cautiously, he scooted around on the rooftop, looking for a way to get down until he slipped and lost his grip.

Too scared to scream, Marucho could only watch in fear as he slid down the roof and over the edge. Fortunately, a bush was down below to break his fall.

When he pulled himself out of the bush, he murmured, "That was close." Though shaken by the experience, he continued to the front of the residence and left the territory. As soon as both feet were out of his home's boundaries, he felt the need to run and that's what he did. It was as if he felt someone would know something was wrong the moment he stepped out of boundary and didn't want to stick around to find out whether someone knew or not. So Marucho ran in the direction the Bakugan from a few days ago came from, pacing himself as he did so but continued to run until he couldn't anymore.

After what seemed like and was several hours of running, Marucho came to a stop at a rock.

Unknown to him, he was being watched.

Catching his breath, he laid down on that rock. "Wow…" He whispered as he observed nature all around his position. In his short life, he had hardly ever left his house and when he did, it was always some place full of civilization and not pure nature. Sitting up, he got a better look. "Why couldn't Mother and Father bring me to a place like this?" The boy wondered out loud. Then two realizations came to him. His stomach growled while his throat felt dry. What was he going to eat? What was he going to drink? In his hurry to leave before his parents could make him stop wondering about Bakugan altogether, he forgot to plan this out. Technically, he planned the first part out but not the rest of it. "Now what do I do?"

"What's on your mind?"

A new voice surprised Marucho which caused him to fall off his seat. Looking around, Marucho attempted to find the source of the voice.

"Who was that?" He asked as he looked around.

"Over here, little guy." Following the sound of the voice, Marucho came up to the nearby river and what he caught him off guard.

"Ah!" The young boy backed away a little.

In the river appeared to be a black and blue head with red eyes. "Surprised?"

Marucho nodded. "A lot."

"Yeah, I have that effect on a lot of people." The head rose out of the river and the rest of its body revealed itself.

Immediately, Marucho recognized the body. "A Bakugan! You're a Bakugan!"

The Bakugan chuckled. "You sound like I'm some sort of discovery. Bakugan aren't uncommon, little guy." Judging by its voice, Marucho deduced it was a male.

"Well," Marucho started, "I haven't seen a lot of Bakugan where I live." Observing the Bakugan, all the information he learned resurfaced. "Your colors are blue and purple. That means you're an Aquos Bakugan."

"That's right. And I know for a fact that you're a human. I've seen your kind before." The Aquos Bakugan nodded at Marucho's observation. Then he waded out of the river, onto the ground next to Marucho, and sat down. "Since we seem to know a little about each other, let's know more. My name's Preyas, how about you?"

"My name is Marucho. Well, it's not actually my name but I saw the name in a book one time and I liked it so I want everyone to call me Marucho." Marucho introduced.

Preyas smiled. "Nice to meet you, Marucho. You're one of the nicer humans I've met in my time. Also, you're one of the smaller ones I've met too. I take it you're not a full grown human." He observed.

Shaking his head, Marucho gave him the answer. "Nope, I'm only five years old. My parents say I'm not an adult until I am eighteen years old."

"I see. So Marucho, if you're not fully grown then why are you out here by yourself? Last I checked, young ones like yourself aren't supposed to be out and alone." Preyas inquired of the human boy.

This made Marucho frown. "My parents and my teachers don't want me to learn about Bakugan anymore so I ran away." He looked up at Preyas. "Do you know what I can eat and drink? I ran away all night." His stomach growled even more to emphasize Marucho's point.

Preyas laughed. "Oh yeah, I know a little thing or two. I've seen humans eat. Hold on a second." Walking to a nearby tree, Preyas plucked off a ripe pear-like fruit off a branch. Setting it down before Marucho, he turned around. Scooping up a large leaf and some water from the river, he set it before Marucho as well. "Here, this should do it. Don't worry about the water, its fresh water. It's safe to drink."

"Thanks." With Preyas's help, Marucho was able to eat the pear-like fruit and drink his fresh river water.

"So when are you heading back home to your parents?" The Aquos Bakugan asked as soon as Marucho finished eating.

Huffing and crossing his arms, Marucho turned away from Preyas. "I'm not going home. They don't want me to learn about Bakugan and if they won't let me then I don't want to be there."

Looking at Marucho, Preyas asked, "Why don't your parents wanting you to learn about Bakugan anyway? We're not that bad, little guy."

"They don't want me learning about them because they think I'm not taking my learning seriously enough anymore. I'm thinking about my lessons, I am but I also want to think about Bakugan and everything that involves them. You and the other Bakugan are interesting. We don't see a lot of you around where I live so what's wrong with learning about them so when they do come around, we know everything?" The little boy explained. That's what he wanted to say to his parents after that discussion he heard but since it scared him so much and he wasn't supposed to be up at the time, he couldn't say a thing about it.

"Geez, and they want you to stop? That's wrong. I was curious about stuff when I was little like you and no one ever stopped me from getting answers so no one should be stopping you from being curious about us." Preyas commented.

"That's what I was thinking." Said Marucho in agreement.

They sat there, talking for a little while. Occasionally, a Bakugan would pass by and not even give them the time of day. They paid no attention to the fact that Marucho was telling Preyas what he knew about Bakugan and his observations of the passing creatures.

The large, blue creature looked at Marucho a little while later. "What now? I mean, if you're not going back, then what are you going to do? Where are you going to go?"

Marucho frowned. "That's what I didn't think of when I left. All I knew was that I didn't want them to stop me from learning about Bakugan and if going back there means not being able to then I don't want to go back."

In their short time together, Preyas felt that he didn't like seeing the young human unhappy. Only a few humans were Preyas's friends and he considered Marucho one of them. Unless Marucho had a plan then he wouldn't make it out here very well.

"Hey, you look like you need cheering up. Want to hear a joke I heard?" Preyas asked him.

In response, Marucho tilted his head, confused. "What's a joke?" He never heard of that before.

That response made Preyas go wide-eyed. "You don't know what a joke is? Geez, your parents have been neglecting to teach you some things. Okay, a joke is something to make you laugh and smile. I'm going to ask you a question and you won't know the answer to it then I tell you what the answer is. Understand?" The blue creature asked the blonde-haired boy. Marucho nodded in understanding. "Alright, why was six afraid of seven?" The boy thought for a moment before shrugging, indicating to Preyas that he didn't know. "Because seven ate nine." Preyas didn't think Marucho would get the joke but he was clearly wrong because as soon as he said the punch line, Marucho burst out laughing, holding his stomach. "You get it?"

"Yeah, ate sounds like eight. That's a good joke." Marucho answered.

"Thank you."

"No thank you Preyas. After I stopped here, I had no idea what to do but you helped me. Thank you for that."

"Any time, little guy." Preyas had to admit, he really liked this kid. For a small one and a young one at that, he understood more than he would appear to. "You know, alone, you're not going to do very well out here by yourself until you're old enough or experienced enough so what do you think about staying at my place for a while?" He suggested to the boy.

First, Marucho looked Preyas up and down. Secondly, he looked at the nature around him. Lastly, he looked in the direction of where he lived. Three glances in three different directions gave him enough to think about before he made up his mind. "That sounds nice. I'll go with you, Preyas."

The Aquos Bakugan smiled. "Great! Let's go then. My place is perfect. Your parents won't find you there. Where I live, you'll have plenty of ways to learn about Bakugan."

"Excellent, where are we going?"

"To the Aquos Attribute Realm, my home is there and quite a few humans and Bakugan live there too. You'll love it. Come on." Preyas got into the river and held out his claw for Marucho to step on to. Stepping onto Preyas's claw, Marucho climbed up his arm and onto his shoulder where he could hang onto Preyas.

Then they started their journey. Preyas started swimming to the flow of the large and deep river. This continued for a couple hours before they reached open water.

Marucho stared at the open water around them. "Where's the attribute realm? Is this it? It looks like an ocean."

This made Preyas chuckle. "That's because it is an ocean. Entrances to the attribute realms are hidden around the world. A lot of Bakugan know where they are and not many humans know where they are or how to get there. One of the entrances for the Aquos one is down in the ocean. How long can you hold your breath? I know humans can't breathe underwater like fish or Aquos Bakugan."

"Not very long. Why? Do I need to hold my breath for a while?" Marucho asked.

"Yeah, but I have an idea. Let's try this first. Aquos Bubble." Using his Aquos powers, Preyas generated a bubble of air and put it on Marucho's head. "How does it work? Is it working fine?" He asked.

Marucho nodded. "It's working. I can breathe."

Grinning, Preyas prepared to dive. "Perfect, now hold on tight." Doing as Preyas requested, Marucho was able to hang onto Preyas as the blue creature dove down into the water. Underneath the waves, fish and Aquos Bakugan roamed freely. This is what Marucho saw when they went under. In a little bit of time, they reached the bottom of the ocean and Preyas swam to some gigantic, bright coral. Once he saw an opening, he saw a flash of dark blue and purple. Entering the opening, Preyas and Marucho paddled into the light.

Then the next thing Marucho knew, the light was gone and they were once more swimming in an open sea of Bakugan and fish.

"Did we make it?"

"Yep, we're there, pal." With that, Preyas took Marucho up to the surface. As they approached, Marucho could see a mass of land and humans swimming up near the surface. They broke surface and Preyas popped Marucho's bubble. "Here we are. Aquos Attribute Realm."

All Marucho could do was stare at the land in front of him. He saw the top of the land was a mountain. From their range, he saw stone buildings, fountains, Bakugan and humans on the shore, so many wonders that he had never really seen before.

"This is the main land of the realm. There are several other large pieces of land and smaller islands all over." Preyas noted to his overwhelmed friend.

"Woah…" Marucho breathed in exhilaration.

Then Preyas began to swam towards shore. "This way, my place happens to be here on this land."

^Seven Years Later^

Aquos Bakugan and some fish swam around. Also swimming was a blonde haired boy. His face held red, round glasses on the bridge of his nose. This was Marucho, seven years later at the age of twelve. Deciding to get some air, Marucho rose to the attribute realm's ocean's surface. He felt he had enough swimming for the morning. Swimming back to shore, he got on land and ran to where he left his things. As he ran, air quickly dried off any remaining water. There, he ducked behind a bush and changed into his day clothes of a white and blue hoodie, blue shorts, and shoes. Picking up the rest of his stuff, he started running up a path familiar to him. On his way, he put on his backpack and pulled his favorite blue fingerless gloves onto his hands. When he reached the top of the path, he found a stone building surrounded by a shallow moat. Other children were heading the same way as he was from all different directions. Jumping onto the first large stepping stone in the shallow moat, he proceeded to jump onto the other ones.

There were several rooms in the building and Marucho went to the one he was assigned to. In the room, he found other kids already there. "Hey guys," He waved as he walked to them.

"Hey Marucho," "Hi Marucho," "Marucho, did you go for a morning swim again?"

"You guys want to hear a joke Preyas and I came up with last night?" He asked them.

"Yeah, tell us the new joke." "It better be a good one too." "They're always good ones, aren't they?"

Clearing his throat to get their attention, Marucho smiled, "What did the mermaid wear to math class?" They all looked at him expectantly. "Her algae-bra!" They all cracked down and laughed. Through this laughter, Marucho smiled. Preyas will be happy to know the joke was a success just like the rest of them.

His parents never did find him after all these years. Preyas was right when he said not a lot of humans could find the realm let alone get to it. For seven years, Marucho lived with Preyas and the blue Bakugan took him all over the realm. He now knew this land as well as he knew his house when he was five. In his seven years since meeting Preyas, Marucho did learn more about Bakugan than he knew from books. His old life didn't satisfy him as well as the one he lived now did. At times, he regretted leaving but at other times he realized that if he was going to get where he wanted to be in life then leaving had to be done. Leaving lead to him meeting Preyas, leaving lead to living in the Aquos Attribute Realm, leaving lead him to a new world.

_Sorry if Marucho seems a little too smart for a five year old but he's the smartest of the brawlers and since it seemed his parents wanted him to be focused on his education, he would learn this stuff very early on. Hope you liked it and please review if possible. Also, the part where twelve year old Marucho is swimming then hurrying to school is an allusion to Lilo &amp; Stitch, my second favorite Disney movie. If you want, go onto Youtube and play me hele no lilo and play the song when you get to that part._


	3. Runo: Waiting for Me

Disclaimer: I do not own Bakugan or anything in the franchise.

Waiting for Me

The little girl in a white shirt and yellow overalls frowned. Anger welled up inside her as she sat at the front entrance of her school. She had been waiting there for almost an hour. Okay, now she was mad. Her parents and her teacher had told her to wait for them to pick her up and that was what she was doing but her mommy or daddy should have come and gotten her already. Though she was only five, she knew enough to know why her parents were late.

They forgot about her. Again.

This was the twentieth time this happened this school year, she didn't know that was how many times this occurred. She would wait a little more and perhaps they haven't forgotten about her after all.

Playing with her sky blue hair or fiddling with her clothes, she sat there waiting a few more minutes.

A few more minutes passed and nobody turned up.

Grrrrrrr…

Picking up herself up from her seat at the entrance, the little blue-haired girl stomped away in the direction she was supposed to go.

A café was busy in the growing town. Being one of the few restaurants in the place, people often went there so they didn't have to exert their effort into making their own food. There was a middle-age couple that owned the place and ran it themselves. They loved their café. It was a really popular place and they enjoyed the fact that people liked going there to eat and drink. Certainly brought in money. The afternoon shift was busy at times and at other times it winded down.

The little blue-haired girl pushed the café's door open and entered inside. Avoiding the taller people in the building, she made her way past the tables and chairs to the café counter where she slipped through the entrance meant for employees and authorized personnel. Walking over to the woman working the counter, she tugged on the woman's apron.

"Hm?" The woman was brought out of her work focus when she felt the tug. Looking down, she saw a very mad little girl. _Her _very mad little girl. "Runo? What are you doing here? You should be at school? Did you walk home by yourself? You know you're not supposed to do that." She scolded the child.

Indignantly, the girl scowled at her mother. "You forgot me!"

Taken aback by the child's complaint, the woman blinked. "What? No we didn't forget you honey? We promised one of us would pick you up at three-thirty. It's only…" Runo's mother turned to check the clock and her voice dropped off as soon as she saw the time. 4:15, it's usually a ten minute walk to/from the school Runo attended. "Oh…" She felt really embarrassed.

"You forgot me!" Runo repeated angrily to her mother.

"Sorry Runo, we got a little busy again." Her mother replied softly, trying to calm her daughter at the same time.

Runo's father then walked over to the counter with a tray of empty glasses and plates. "Looks like the café's business is slowing down for the evening, we can probably pick up Runo now." He told his wife.

Runo's mother blanched sheepishly before directing her husband's attention to the other person behind the counter.

Blinking at his wife's odd behavior, he looked down over the counter to see Runo with a glare that could've set him on fire. "Oh… hi there Runo, how was school?" He asked half-heartedly while he tried to recover from seeing her home and mad.

"It was good but I was the last one there." She answered, not dropping her gaze the slightest. Wishing to vent her anger, she huffed away and up to the second floor of the café where the family lived.

"Sorry Runo, again…" Her father apologized while she increased her distance from them.

"She's so unhappy. She wasn't like that when she was a baby." Her mother noted, looking at the baby pictures hung around the café. Both parents looked back on when Runo was a happy child before she grew up into a little kid that had a bit of a temper.

Upstairs, Runo dropped her backpack on the floor of her bedroom then walked over to her play table. Picking up some colored pencils and some paper, she started scribbling away. Her first drawing was of her and her parents smiling together. That wasn't something that had happened recently so she was hoping soon it would happen again.

"Bakugan coming through!"

Runo popped up at the yell. A Bakugan was coming through today? Leaving her table, she went to her bedroom window to see if she could spot the Bakugan. Spotting Bakugan should be easy since they're so big.

Indeed there was one out there. A tiger-like Haos Bakugan came through the growing town, being careful not to step on any humans. Bakugan passing through town was a relatively normal happening here. Some Bakugan were familiar faces around the town's location, there were also some one-time faces that passed through as well. This one, Runo did not recognize, this must be a first time passing through for the Bakugan.

The Haos Bakugan glanced at the humans staring at her in awe, nodding to each of them as she went. Raising her eye level, she saw Runo. A little child who was astounded by her appearance. Silently assuring the child she was real, she nodded to Runo as she went along. After a few more Bakugan sized steps, she was on the other side of town and out of way of harming humans.

Once the Bakugan left Runo's sight, she drew back inside her room. The Bakugan looked at her. A Bakugan actually stared at her. They never met her eyes before and now one did. That was so amazing… A second wind in her after a long day, she went back to her table and continued to draw.

Two hours later, while Runo's father cleaned up the café after closing up, Runo's mother went upstairs to make their dinner. Since she knew Runo was mad at them for forgetting to go get her… for the twentieth time in the year, she knew she had to make it up to Runo for the both of them. To do that, she prepared a dish that Runo liked very much.

Runo's father came up a little later and Runo's mother finished making dinner. "Runo! Dinner time!" She called down the hallway to Runo's room where she knew she was.

Hearing the call, Runo slipped out of her room and went to join her parents at the dinner table. She sat down and her mother set some food in front of her.

"Runo, are you still mad at us?" Her mother asked.

Runo shook her head. "Nope." Her parents sighed in relief, neither didn't want their daughter mad at them for long. "And I saw a Bakugan!"

"You did?" Runo's father inquired. He too had seen the Bakugan while working downstairs in the café. "Was it huge, white, had stripes and claws?"

"Yep!" Runo nodded. "And it looked at me! I was looking at it when it saw me in my room!"

Her mother smiled. "Really, did you call out to the Bakugan or something?"

"No, I watched it walk by and it saw me."

"Well, that's special." Runo beamed at the comment. "Now why don't you start eating, your food should be cooling off. Make sure to blow on it just in case."

Picking up her fork, Runo stabbed at her food, blew on it and put the bite in her mouth.

Runo's father swallowed. "Runo, we don't have to work tomorrow. Do you want to go to the park?"

Eagerly she nodded, "Yes! I want to play." The trips to the park were always one of her favorite times. It was a time where they wouldn't be too busy working and they'd be able to remember her.

"Alright then, we'll go to the park tomorrow." Her father confirmed upon her answer.

After dinner, Runo played for a little while until it was time for bed and her parents tucked her in. As she slept, she dreamed of family fun she would have the next day with her parents.

The next day, Runo and her parents went to the park. They had all sorts of fun. They eat a picnic lunch, they played some of Runo's favorite games, and spent family time just like Runo wanted.

As the day went on, Runo was increasingly happier than she was yesterday. While they walked around, Runo spotted some other children her age and they were setting up a baseball game.

"Runo look, some children are going to play baseball. You like baseball don't you? Why don't you see if you can play with them?" Her mother suggested as they noticed the game.

"Okay." Runo left her parents and ran up to the first kid she saw. "Hi, are you going to play baseball? I want to play too."

"Sure, we don't have enough people on the other team. You can be on that one." The kid said, pointing the other team out.

"Okay." She went to the team and joined them. Her parents meanwhile took seats on the sidelines to watch the game.

With the help of a parent that was organizing the game, baseball went on for a little while and Runo got to take a few swings but missed each time.

Her father glanced at Runo sitting on the bench, waiting for her turn. "Poor Runo, she hasn't gotten a hit all this game."

His wife turned to look at him. "Maybe she needs a little practice. It's been a while since she played it at our house." Mostly because most days they worked and were busy.

When they talked, Runo looked at them at the exact same time. She saw their frowns. "They're disappointed in me. I didn't hit the ball." She looked down at her feet, not wanting to see them looking at her.

"Tatsuo! Saki!"

The parents looked up and saw one of their friends coming to join them at the game. "Hi, Kiyoko! What brings you here?" Runo's mother asked once their friend sat down.

"Oh the boys needed a little room to let out their energy and they're old enough to be by themselves for a few minutes so I thought I would come and see this baseball game." Kiyoko responded.

Tatsuo smiled at the antics of Kiyoko's children. They always were riled up ones. "How are the boys by the way?"

Kiyoko giggled. "They're wonderful. They always have so much fun at school."

Meanwhile, Runo was up to bat. When she stepped up, she noticed her parents weren't watching her, they were talking to one of their friends. They weren't paying attention to her and her game. Trying to shake it off, she held up the bat and got into position.

The pitcher threw the ball and Runo swung. Instead of missing like she's done the entire game so far, something else happened.

Runo's bat made contact with the ball and sent it flying back to the far right fielder. Dropping the bat at home plate, Runo ran to first. The fielder tried to catch the ball but ended up missing it by a few feet. By that time, Runo ran around the base and went to second. In the field, the fielder ran over to pick up the ball and tossed it to the first baseman. However, it didn't reach all the way and landed a few feet away. The first baseman ran to go get it. At the same time, Runo passed second base and went to third.

"Toss it here!" The kid at third base hollered to the first baseman. The first baseman threw the ball to the pitcher. "Not that way!"

Runo was about to round third base when the third baseman stopped her. "Hold on, the ball's back with the pitcher. You're safe at third." Glancing at the pitcher, Runo found that the baseman's claim was correct. So she stood at third base as the next player went up to bat. While she waited for the chance to run home, she looked to her parents again. No change from a few minutes ago, they were still talking to their friend.

"They didn't see that… they didn't see I hit it…" Sad, she turned away and focused on the game.

Back with her parents, they found a break in their conversation and turned their attention back to the game. Surprisingly, Runo wasn't on the bench like they last saw her.

Seeing her at third base, her mother pointed her out to her husband. "Look! Runo is at third base. She must have gotten a hit."

"And we missed it. Aw man…" Runo's father groaned.

The batter after Runo didn't have much luck. Three strikes with one occurring after another. "Strike three! Player out! Game over!" A parent keeping track of the game mentioned.

Seeing that their baseball game has ended, the kids groaned and started picking things up, heading back to their families.

While most kids were depressed, Runo was sad because she didn't get to home base and she was so close.

"Nice game, Runo." Runo's mother said as she approached.

Looking up, she looked at her parents. "Did you see me hit the ball?" She asked. For all she knew, they could've seen it and looked away once she got to third.

Seeing Runo's face, her parents found themselves unable to lie and indulge her. "No, we didn't. We were distracted talking to Kiyoko. Sorry Runo…" Her mother said.

"Oh…"

For the rest of the day, Runo was unhappy. Her parents saw that too and they took her home where she spent the evening alone in her room and no conversation could get her to talk at dinner.

After the second weekend day passed, it was back to school for Runo. Her father walked her there and before she went inside. He bent down to look her in the eye. "We'll see you after school Runo. We promise."

Nodding after hearing the promise, Runo gave him a hug and ran inside to start her school day.

All day, while she paid attention in class, she wondered if the promise would be kept. She did her best in class and had as much fun as she could during recess but she couldn't help but wonder.

The day ended and everyone else went home with their parents. Her teacher left as usual as well. So she was left sitting there, waiting for them to come.

Fifteen minutes passed.

Thirty minutes passed.

Her mother finally appeared.

"We promised, Runo." She said as she arrived. The promise kept, Runo ran to her and they went home together.

That afternoon was a different story than the previous Friday. Her father managed to keep business rolling for twenty minutes until his wife and daughter returned. Instead of isolating herself in her room, she happily played in the living room and engaged in conversation while her parents made dinner and eat it. She was happy.

Heading to school the following day, Runo eagerly awaited for the same thing to happen like yesterday. Her attitude during school was more positive than the previous day and she engaged with the children a bit more. Finally the school day ended and everyone else left. She sat there waiting again.

Fifteen minutes passed. She happily hummed her favorite songs from class to pass the time.

Thirty minutes passed. Runo picked at blades of grass surrounding the immediate area.

Forty-five minutes passed. Now somewhat worried, she started tugging at the white skirt below her yellow top.

Sixty minutes passed. She was sad by this point, she sat there hoping someone would come. Not a minute later, she snapped. Her sadness turned into heartbroken anger. Leaving her backpack there, she ran off away in the direction opposite of her parents' café.

Runo didn't care where she was going or didn't know where she would go but she was tired of this. Tired of the constant let downs of her parents forgetting about her and not paying attention to her. Finally, she arrived at the edge of town. Was she really leaving here? Was she really going to go outside of the town she was living in?

The answer was yes.

Letting some tears leak, she ran ahead. Nobody that resided at that edge of town saw her leave.

A few minutes later, her father arrived to pick her up at the school. "Sorry I'm late Runo, time got away from us again." He looked up from his feet, feeling a bit guilty of the whole thing. When he looked up, he was met with a sight that he did not expect to be faced with. "Runo?" All he saw there was her backpack. He looked around. "Runo? Are you hiding?" He asked a little louder. No response. "Runo!" Her father finally yelled out. This was bad. Grabbing Runo's backpack, he ran back to the café to tell his wife what happened.

For a little girl, Runo moved fast when she wanted to. Off a little ways from her hometown, a rock outcropping stood. Perfect, they wouldn't find here. Finding a trail up the outcropping, she traversed up and sat down on a rock. Seeing landscape for miles, she breathed in awe. Never before had she seen something like this. Then a thought pained her. If her parents weren't so busy they could've shown her something like this.

"Young human, what is wrong? You seem distraught."

Runo's head shot up, alert. Turning around, she saw who else was with her.

Behind her stood a large, white Bakugan with golden armor of sorts, sharp teeth, and green eyes. Something about the Bakugan seemed familiar.

Runo figured it out and pointed at her. "You're the Bakugan from days ago!"

"It's not polite to point, young lady." The Bakugan said to her.

Now knowing she was doing something wrong, Runo brought her finger back and grasped her hands in each other's. "Sorry. I saw you and you saw me. I knew you from before."

The Bakugan nodded. "Ah yes, I believe I remember seeing you. You were the little human in the window."

"Yes," Runo nodded in return. "My name is Runo. What about you?"

"My name is Tigrerra." The Haos Bakugan said.

"Tigera?" Runo repeated.

"No, no. Tigrerra."

"Tigrerra?"

"That's right. You've got it now."

Runo looked up at the Bakugan in curiosity. "What are you doing here? Do you live here? I never saw you before days ago."

Tigrerra shook her head. "No, I don't live here. I'm traveling. I stopped here for a couple days to rest. I was visiting a friend in the Haos Attribute Realm and I took a different exit than the one I used to enter so now I'm heading home the long way."

"Oh." Runo replied.

"What about you, dear? Why are you here?" Tigrerra asked the small human girl.

Runo heard the question and frowned sadly. "I'm done living back home. I don't like it there anymore."

"Why?"

"My mommy and daddy always forget me. They don't watch me when I want them to and it makes me sad."

"I have parents of my own, Runo. If I know parents then they aren't doing it on purpose. Everyone forgets things sometimes."

"But they always do! They forget to get me from school and when I play a game and they watch, they don't see the best parts."

"Merely an inconvenience. There is such a thing as bad timing."

Sighing, seeing as Tigrerra was not agreeing with her, Runo sat back down and looked out at the landscape, holding her knees close. "I wish they didn't forget me all the time."

"I suppose they wish that too." Tigrerra mentioned as she gazed at the hurting child. Looking out at the landscape, Tigrerra thought of other things. "I should go. I should make progress before night comes."

Runo looked at her. "You're leaving? I will be alone?" She forgot about night. She didn't like it as much as day, it made her scared sometimes.

Tigrerra turned to the little girl. "Would you like me to take you home to your parents so you aren't alone?"

"No! Don't take me there!" Runo shot off the rock and ran over to hold onto Tigrerra's leg. "I don't want home anymore!"

"Then what will you do about being alone?"

Runo stared up at the Bakugan. "I won't be alone! You'll be with me!"

"I can't stay, Runo. I have a home to go to."

"Then take me with you!" Runo pleaded.

Taken aback, Tigrerra was left without words. She had no idea how to take care of a human child. This one wanted to go with her. She didn't want to be alone and she didn't want to go home to her parents that loved her but forgot to pay attention to her many times. "I'm not sure, Runo." That was all she could respond.

The blue-haired girl still clung to her leg. "Please… I'll be good. I promise."

"Young lady, I'm not sure…" That was when Tigrerra saw inside Runo's little human face. This was a girl that had so much sadness that needed to be taken away. She saw hope in Tigrerra. The little one was looking to her for attention. Attention she desperately needed otherwise she would be crushed. Young ones made promises and tried their best to keep them. If Runo was willing to cooperate with her for the sake of having someone watching her then she really meant business. "…I suppose we could try." The Haos Bakugan decided.

A smile, the first smile Tigrerra saw on Runo, appeared. "Thanks Tigrerra."

Tigrerra kneeled down. "Climb on."

Obeying her new friend's request, Runo climbed up Tigrerra's side and sat herself up near her head. Tigrerra got up and began to walk around the outcropping to go in the direction she was traveling the other day.

"Tigrerra?" Runo asked.

"Yes Runo…" Tigrerra answered.

"Will you not forget me?"

Runo really needed to know someone was listening and paying attention to her. Raised by attentive parents herself, Tigrerra understood the longing she was missing. "Of course, Runo."

^Seven Years Later^

Sitting by a stream, Runo waited for Tigrerra to finish her meeting with one of her fellow Haos Bakugan. Over the years, she learned to be a bit more patient than she was as a little girl. Tigrerra also taught her a bit in manners so she was a bit more well-mannered but was still as stubborn as ever. She had gained some height over the years and now wore a yellow shirt and a white skirt with a pink belt, her hair had grown considerably and was tied in two long straight ponytails, and along with brown shoes she wore striped stockings. On her hands were pink fingerless gloves. All of the clothes she wore she got from working for them or trading what little valuables she had.

Runo's thoughts were put in the back of her mind when she was pelted with an orange.

"Hahaha! Bullseye!"

And now was when her temper flared up. "Komba! You hit me with another one and you can expect twice as many coming right back!" She stood up and shouted in the direction of the toss.

"Nanananana!" Komba taunted, his friends laughing along.

While he was distracted, Runo reached to the ground and snatched up the orange. With deadly accuracy, she threw it right back.

"Ow!" Komba winced in pain. "Run!" He told his friends and they all scattered.

"That's right! Run! You should be afraid of me!" Runo yelled after them.

"Runo, you must work on that temper."

Turning around, she saw Tigrerra standing over her. "Oh hey Tigrerra, done with your meeting?"

The Bakugan nodded. "Yes, we can leave now. Shall we head to Bayview, it looks like if we go to Alpha City then we'll be caught up in bad weather."

"Sounds good to me. The beach is calling." Runo climbed up onto Tigrerra and they set off for their destination.

After she left with Tigrerra, Runo never looked back. Tigrerra did what her parents tried to do but couldn't, she gave Runo the attention she required as a child until she was ready to be independent and now they were simply best friends and traveling partners. Tigrerra's friends and acquaintances had no idea why she brought a human with her everywhere but they knew her as a fine young lady. Whenever they were in the direction of Runo's old home, they went the long way around. Runo wondered if anyone would even recognize her, the world had plenty of blunettes. Looking back, she was happy that Tigrerra was there when she ran. It was almost as if she was waiting for her.

_Note: Since Runo's parents are loving and protective in the original series, I had to make them loving but unintentionally forgetful since they're so busy running their shop. Her parents' names used in this chapter are the same ones from the series. Hope you enjoyed!_


	4. Dan: Wild and Free

Disclaimer: I do not own Bakugan or anything in the franchise.

Wild and Free

Dan bounced the rubber ball off the wall and caught it when it bounced back to him. He had been doing this for a little while and he was getting bored. He sighed in boredom and continued to toss it at the wall.

"Dan, would you stop that?" His babysitter came into the room and commanded him.

"But I'm bored." Dan stopped throwing the ball and looked at his babysitter.

"Well, read a book or something if you're bored just stop tossing that ball off the wall." She left the room and went back to what she was doing. Dan groaned but obeyed her demand and stopped throwing the ball. Now even more bored than before, he let his head fall back onto the pillow behind him.

His father had a business trip in Bayview and since it was pretty far, his mother joined him and Dan was stuck with a babysitter for the few weeks they were gone. For three weeks, his babysitter had been here and there were two more weeks of it. After his parents left, Dan had gone through every activity he possibly could without his babysitter joining him. She didn't mind him all that much, she played with him when she wasn't busy keeping up with house chores or working in town, but still, she didn't play with him very often. Tired of what he had already done these last couple weeks, he had no idea what to do.

Deciding to see if the other kids in the neighborhood were doing something, he left the living room and walked out to the front porch. Once he got outside, he heard loud screeches and another noise similar to explosions. Curious, Dan saw other kids, mostly boys, running off in one direction. When one ran close by his house, the young boy jumped off the porch and stood in front of the runner.

"What's going on?" He asked the running boy.

"Bakugan battle Dan! Bakugan battle!" The boy slipped around Dan and continued after the others.

Grinning at the news, Dan ran back inside and found his babysitter cleaning the dishes from breakfast. "Bakugan battle! Going to go watch!" Eagerly, he turned around and dashed back to the front door.

"Alright but don't get too close and don't go too far! Be back for supper!" She called after him.

"Will do!"

Focusing on the excitement, Dan followed the other kids that were going to go watch and as he neared the battle location, he could see bursts of light and smoke. The battle noises were definitely getting louder too.

Bakugan battles were a common occurrence near Dan's town. For some reason, the empty landscape outside of town seemed to be a designated battle location for Bakugan itching to fight with each other. Whenever one started up, those who enjoyed Bakugan battles tended to go to the site of the fight and cheer them on.

"What Bakugan are fighting today?" Dan asked once he caught up to the other spectators.

"It looks like a Ventus Bakugan and a Darkus Bakugan. The Ventus one is making the screams and the Darkus one is making the big explosions." Another boy viewing the event told him.

A green roadrunner-like Bakugan was flying through the air, trying to strike on the purple two-headed lion-like Bakugan.

The Darkus Bakugan opened both mouths and charged up dark balls of energy and launched them in the air. Expertly, the Ventus Bakugan dodged both of them by squeezing through the air space between them in a dive. Arrows of green energy stemmed from the Ventus Bakugan's feathers and sped towards the lion creature. Trying to avoid them, he jumped back but some of the arrows still hit and he was covered in smoke.

Those who were cheering for Darkus quieted down in shock while Ventus fans cheered for a successful attack.

Spinning into a dive, the Ventus Bakugan aimed for the center of the smoke and launched their next move. While he did that, a purple light glowed within the smoke and as soon as the green creature attacked, a white light flashed and the roadrunner was tossed back out of the smoke. Finally the smoke cleared and the lion was revealed to have long, bright purple claws extended from his paws.

Not letting the roadrunner recover from the last attack, the lion started prowling towards him. The roadrunner noticed and flung himself towards the Darkus Bakugan for one last move. The both heads on the lion grew their teeth bigger and the roadrunner opened its beak where a green ball of energy was forming and growing.

They collided and an explosion broke out. Some of the kids watching the event were blown off their feet and onto their backs.

Smoke and dust disappeared to reveal the lion was standing victorious over the roadrunner. Darkus Bakugan fans cheered while Ventus fans groaned in defeat.

Acknowledging the defeat, the roadrunner stood up, bowed to the lion and ran off in a direction. As the roadrunner left, the lion nodded in acceptance of the victory before turning both of its heads to the spectating crowd. They watched with interest as to what he was going to do. His reaction was unpleasant, he snarled at them.

"Leave now. I do not tolerate you humans."

Taken back by his snarl, everybody immediately did as he asked and left. Dan gave him one last look before running after everyone else.

Huffing in finally having solitude, the lion walked away in a direction opposite of the humans and the other Bakugan.

"Did you see how he dove down for his attack? That was so cool!" "Darkus Bakugan rule!" "No way, Ventus Bakugan are better!" "Wish we could have seen inside that smoke, his attack would've been awesome!"

Excited by their recent battle, the spectators chatted earnestly about it as they returned to their town's vicinity. Once reaching there, Dan returned to his house.

"How was the battle? Who won?" His babysitter asked as he passed through the kitchen.

"It was an awesome Darkus vs Ventus battle. The Ventus Bakugan was flying through the air and there was smoke blocking our view sometimes but it was still pretty cool. You should have seen them go towards each other! It was bam and boom and growl! I love watching battles!" Dan spoke animatedly, moving his hands up and down and all over the place, trying to mimic what he had seen.

"Guess you're not bored anymore?" Dan shook his head in response. "Well, then there goes your afternoon right? Another day over!"

He nodded his head in agreement. "I guess. But it's not really night yet and I'm not tired."

"True, you still have some energy to burn. Why don't you go play for a little while and I should have dinner ready in a bit okay?"

"Supper sounds good. I can't wait!" Eager for supper to be ready, Dan rushed to his room to find something to do until it was time. Entering his room, he went to the box that held his toys. "Where are they?"

The boy shuffled some toys around until he came across a red dragon-like Bakugan toy and an orange robot-like Bakugan toy.

"You again." Dan said, speaking for the dragon toy. "I thought I beat you for sure last time."

"Are you kidding? You'll never outmatch me." Dan said for his robot Bakugan.

"At the end of this battle, you'll see how wrong you are." He stated as the dragon.

Swinging the dragon Bakugan around in the air and holding the orange one near the floor, Dan made sound effects and slammed them together as if they were attacking each other. The boy had them fight several battles in a best out of contest, most wins going to the dragon Bakugan. Finally, he was called for dinner. With his usual gusto, he gobbled up his dinner and went back to playing with them. By sundown's end, he was tired and tucked in bed.

As a few days passed, the young boy found that his boredom had truly been cured and he was interested in playing with everything he already did previously again. With all his energy, he must have went through them faster than the first time.

Six days after witnessing that battle, Dan found himself lounging around like he had that same day.

He sighed as he laid, chest down, on his bed. "I'm so bored."

"Dan, you've been cooped up inside every day since that battle. Why don't you go outside and run around a bit?" At his babysitter's suggestion, he groaned. "Come on, if you're sitting around doing nothing all day then you have to have energy to spare. Go on. Go outside."

It was true that Dan was well-rested from sitting around and he had been inside all the time. He really needed to get outside. Consenting to her suggestion, he got off his bed and went out the front door. His little run was routed around town so he could see if anybody was doing anything interesting. To his dismay, nobody was doing anything really special or really fun. He even asked if anybody was up to play baseball but no one really wanted to. He couldn't believe what he was thinking but currently, he was wishing school would start up again soon.

After returning to his house, he picked up his toys around his room and put them in his box. "Why can't we watch Bakugan battles more?" He asked himself as he cleaned up.

The rest of the day was a long, boring blur. Nothing really happened but before he knew it, he was getting ready for bed. His babysitter didn't get a chance to wash his pajamas yet but planned on washing them so he stayed in the clothes he wore all day. She wasn't really going to be around during the night, she had to work a later shift than she was used to because she needed the work hours for the week. Her best answer was that she was probably going to be home early in the morning like before sunrise.

As he slept, he got uncomfortable in his current position and rolled onto his side.

Outside Dan's house, in town, it was silent like it always was, save for a few conversations and late night activities. Then a sound broke the normally quiet volume.

A loud roar occurred and was followed by a ball of fire crashing in the middle of town. Bystanders jumped in a startle.

Most of town got the picture of what was going on. It was a late night Bakugan battle.

Their assessment was correct, for there was a Pyrus Bakugan vs a Pyrus Bakugan fighting in the usual clearing. As they fought, one of their moves was revealed to cover a larger distance than normal. The one in the air summoned fireballs and hurtled them towards their opponent. Some of them missed and landed in town.

People rushed around, waking up their neighbors and helping put out the fireballs that had landed there.

One fireball landed so close to Dan's house that the house itself caught on fire.

"That's Dan's house!" "Dan must be sleeping in there!" "Dan!" "Somebody get water to put this out!"

Inside, a whiff of smoke caught Dan's senses. His mind alert, he awoke to see what was going on. Already, the fire had started to spread around the upper floor.

"Whoa!" Dan stumbled off his bed upon seeing the flames. Flames started to enter his room. Backing away from the flames, he quickly tried to figure out what to do. School had taught him what to do if there was a fire but he wasn't prepared to be this close to one.

His window appearing in the corner of his eye, he thought of something. Rushing to the window next to the bench in his room, he pushed it open and found that there was a branch close to his window. Fortunately for him, his house was located next to the town's woods. It was a long shot but hopefully he would make it.

Using all the energy in his legs that he built up during the night, he jumped out of his window and onto the tree branch, grabbing onto it with his hands.

"Yes! I did it!" He cheered. Pulling himself up onto the branch, he watched as his room got set on fire. "Aw, my room…" He whined, all of his stuff was in there. Not wanting to see anymore, he worked his way to the tree's body and climbed down to the ground.

No sooner than he did, another fireball landed behind his house near where he was and started spreading fire onto the woods.

Letting out a scream, he backed away from the spreading fire, turned heel, and ran as fast as he could, the flames following him.

Somebody in town came around to check behind the house where the fireball landed and gasped upon seeing the fire spreading.

"It's spreading back here too!" He called to the others.

"But what about Dan?" "Is Dan still in there?" "Dan's house is still on fire!"

Deeper in the woods, Dan ran, occasionally looking back to see if the fire was still following him. At a distance, it was. He knew what fire did but he had to wonder how long it would keep going for. Looking ahead he saw a river. Fire is put out by water so perhaps once he crossed the river, he would be safe.

Reaching the river, he jumped immediately, not stopping to catch his breath. The river wasn't very wide so he was able to swim across easily.

He swam to the other side and climbed out. Now thoroughly exhausted, he stopped and caught his breath. Looking up, he saw the fire getting closer. He wasn't sure whether the river would be able to stop it but it appeared his question wouldn't get answered because rain clouds rolled over the area and it started raining.

Rain immediately started falling, putting out the fire as it touched the ground. Relieved, Dan let himself relax a little, knowing he didn't have to run anymore. But then his concern for the fire turned into confusion. It wasn't good to be out in the rain so he had to take shelter. Around him, there were nothing but trees. Perhaps one of the branches would keep the rain from falling on him. Climbing up a tree, he found a branch that was underneath another one that would keep the rain off him. The branch wasn't all that comfortable but exhaustion beat comfort and he ended up falling asleep, holding onto the limb to ensure he wouldn't fall. As he slumbered, rain continued to pour, the fire long extinguished.

Back in town, the fires had been put out but Dan's house was past the point of recovery.

Morning came, the sun was out, smoke from the extinguished fire disappeared, and Dan was still in the same position as before. He was stirring as his mind decided to wake up.

It would've taken him longer to wake up but an explosion-like noise did the job. Jolting awake, the boy sat up on the branch and tried to figure out what was going on. Looking past lots of trees, he could see a battle taking place.

"A Bakugan battle? Alright!" Eager to catch seeing the battle, he quickly climbed down from the tree and ran towards where the battle was taking place.

Past the trees in the woods, a battle was taking place between a Pyrus dragon Bakugan and the Darkus two-headed lion Bakugan from the last battle Dan had witnessed.

"You're stronger than you look, dragon." The lion said while he and the dragon were at a standstill.

"I'm a dragonoid and of course I'm strong. In my life, I have fought battles against some of the best." The dragonoid responded.

"Very well, Dragonoid. But considering you battled some of the best, I assume you lost those matches."

"Watch your mouth. This battle isn't over yet and I won't hesitate to take you down when you need it."

"Fine then. Have it your way!"

Both Bakugan launched into battle mode again and fought expertly. What they didn't know was Dan had arrived at the edge of their battlefield and watched with awe.

He had seen the Darkus Bakugan before so his attention was on the newcomer. Dan's favorite Bakugan were of Pyrus attribute and he had to admit, the dragonoid looked a lot like his red dragon Bakugan toy that was in his room. The boy watched them both fight and got excited at every attack and every hitting blow between them.

After a grueling battle in the air and on the ground, the dragonoid claimed victory with one last body slam move onto the lion into the rock surface beneath them, leaving a crater. His view obscured by the crater's depth, Dan ran over and watched them from the crater's edge.

"You beat me. Call me impressed, Dragonoid." The lion spoke as he got up.

"I have to respect your ability to battle as well. Until our next match." Dragonoid nodded his head towards the lion.

Climbing out of the crater, the lion went on his way. While he did, Dragonoid surveyed the crater which was a result of his power.

"Wow…" Dragonoid immediately turned his head to who spoke. On the edge of the crater, the young boy stood in awe. "That battle was so cool! And the way you finished it with that slam! That was totally wicked!"

Dragonoid stared at the boy. "Yeah, well, thanks for the commentary and I'm glad you enjoyed watching that. Now farewell." Turning away from the human boy, the giant dragon Bakugan left the crater and walked to the nearest source of water.

Dan stared after the giant and started going after him. "Hey wait up!"

Dragonoid reached the river, down a few miles from where Dan had crossed the previous night. Lowering a claw in, he picked up some water and drank it, repeating the action a couple times. While he did that, Dan came to his side.

"You have some really cool moves! You know that? I thought Bakugan looked really cool but you are the absolute coolest! My name is Dan. What about you?" Dan chattered happily as he stood by Dragonoid.

"I am Pyrus Dragonoid." Dragonoid replied.

Dan frowned at that. "That's a long name. It's not really all that great. I know, I'll call you Drago! That sounds much better than Dragonoid." He smiled proudly, coming up with a nickname for the Bakugan.

"I would rather you not."

"Come on, Drago. It works, see?"

"Don't you have somewhere to be? Last I checked, young ones aren't supposed to be out alone." Drago finished drinking and stood at the riverbank.

The boy folded his arms sternly. "I can be out alone. I do it all the time."

Drago glanced at Dan with a pointed look. "You just ask for trouble don't you?"

"Nope." Dan shook his head with a smile.

"Nothing against you, kid. I appreciate my power and abilities being well received but I can't be seen with a young human. I don't dislike humans but I just prefer being alone." The Bakugan looked away from the human.

"That doesn't make any sense."

"It does make sense! You're just too young to understand."

"I am not!"

"Yes you are." Drago huffed. "Why am I even still here, talking to you? I have places to be." He turned away from Dan and prepared to take off.

"Hold on! Hey!" Dan exclaimed, not done with talking to Drago quite yet. At the exact moment Drago took off, Dan managed to grab hold of the tip of Drago's tail.

Drago burst into the air with such speed, Dan holding onto his tail.

"Whoooooooooa!" The human boy exclaimed as his feet left the ground and he was taken quickly up into the sky.

Up in the bright blue sky, Drago settled to a flight path and coasted along at his comfortable rate. Behind him, Dan worked to get a better grip on the Bakugan's tail, reaching for the wider part as he climbed up the body.

He managed to inch himself up to a wider part and wrapped his arms around so he didn't fall off. "I didn't really ask for a ride but thanks though!" He called up to Drago through the wind.

Hearing Dan's shout, Drago glanced back and was shocked to see Dan back there. "What?! What are you doing back there? Get off of me!"

"I would! But we're up in the sky, Drago! I can't fly!" Slowly, Dan's grip on Drago's tail slipped and Dan started sliding down underneath it, thanks to gravity. "Uh oh!" He squeaked upon noticing the change in the situation.

Dan's grip was only slipping more now that nothing was between Dan and gravity. Soon, he couldn't hold on anymore and he fell. With a scream, Dan started to plummet through the sky towards the ground.

"Dan!" Drago shouted, immediately diving after him. He didn't dislike humans but he didn't want humans getting hurt because of him on his conscience. It didn't take very long to reach him and when he did, Drago positioned his horn close to Dan. "Grab on!"

Not wanting to crash painfully into the ground, Dan latched himself onto Drago's horn and the dragonoid quickly got back into a flight position and continued flying.

"Thanks! I thought it was going to hurt really bad when I hit the ground." Still holding onto Drago's horn, Dan sat on Drago's head a little more relaxed knowing he wasn't going to fall.

"No problem. I think to avoid any more close calls like that, I should take you back to your home. Where do you live?"

Rubbing his head, Dan tried to think. "Um, well, my home kind of got set on fire and I don't know which way is home."

"Unbelievable." Drago grumbled.

"My parents went on a trip to Bayview and were going to get home in a few days. We could go to Bayview, except I don't know where that is. Do you know where Bayview is?"

"I heard of the place but I don't know the direction. Your guess is probably as good as mine."

"That stinks." Dan sighed.

"I know. So, I guess I'm stuck with you then. I could drop you off somewhere else but who knows what kind of trouble you would get into."

"I wouldn't get into trouble."

"I can argue that."

"Hm," the human boy huffed, "I guess that ruins the whole 'prefer being alone thing'."

"In a way, yes."

Now curious, Dan leaned forward with interest. "Where are we going?"

"We're going somewhere you probably have not been to before. While we're there, just be careful."

"Okay." Dan smiled, something new to do coming up soon.

A few days later, Dan's parents arrived home. When they got there, they were met with a bad surprise.

"What happened to the house?" Dan's father asked, seeing the house was no longer in its place.

"It got caught on fire a few nights ago. We tried to put it out but by the time it could be, the whole thing was beyond helping." Dan's babysitter answered as she walked up to them.

"Where's Dan? He's okay, right?" Dan's mother asked her.

She shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know. Nobody could find him so we all know he escaped the house. We looked around the woods and the surrounding area too but he wasn't anywhere we checked. He's out there somewhere but we don't know where."

The parents looked at each other with worried but relieved glances. It was comforting to know he made it out but not knowing where he was worried them. Where was he?

^Seven Years Later^

Drago blasted a spiral of fire from his mouth and his opponent tried to stand against it.

"Yeah Drago! That's how you do it! Fire power all the way!" Dan cheered from behind the Bakugan.

When Drago was finished, Elfin looked like she had burns and she collapsed flat on her face. A moment later, she stood back up and growled at Drago.

"No fair! You have someone cheering for you and I don't. No fair that I lost! I'm telling Preyas!" The Aquos Bakugan ran off looking upset.

"Nice job, Drago, with every battle you win, battles just get easier and easier to win." Dan commented as he walked up beside Drago.

Dan's look certainly had changed. He had black shoes, red pants with a matching jacket that had black pockets, a yellow undershirt, blue fingerless gloves, and a pair of green sunglasses nestled on top of his messy hair.

"Seems that way, Dan. She may not have looked like much but she put up a tough fight."

Both looked at the setting sun which lit up the scene with an orange sky.

"Well, home is pretty close. Just out in the ocean a little bit. Want to head there for the night?" Dan looked up at his partner.

Drago looked down at him. "Sure, why not? It took some effort into winning that fight for that island. Use it while we got it."

"Yeah." Dan nodded in agreement. Without needing to ask, Dan climbed up to his usual seat on Drago's head and Drago took off for home. As they flew out over the ocean, Dan let out a howl of enjoyment. Flying on Drago never got old.

Dan and Drago learned over the years that he had too much energy to be contained in one setting so it was good they traveled constantly and trained hard for battles. If Drago was training for a battle, Dan was training to get stronger alongside him. They were partners ever since that day they met. Drago's annoyance with Dan faded and actually valued his presence. They grew on each other, sharing mannerisms of speaking and thinking, bouncing off each other with their power. The world of New Vestroia was an open space. Out there, especially in the sky, Dan felt wild and free.

_Note: Sometimes when one parent has a business trip, their spouse goes with them, and I thought that would be the perfect situation to put Dan's story in motion. Originally, I was going to have Dan and Drago's companionship seven years later resemble Hiccup and Toothless's from HTTYD 2 but then I realized that becoming strong brawlers was where their bond needed to go. Read and Review! Reviews are always good to get._


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